Philosophers like Plato criticized writing as a cause of corruption of our memory. However, today we know that writing is actually more likely to stimulate memorizing than mere thinking. But there are many other surprising benefits to writing you might not have known of.
1. Self-awareness
Writing makes you actively process the thought content you are about to put on paper. This helps you bring into consciousness notions that might have been subconscious or otherwise unclear. In order for you to write something down in a conscious effort, you first have to clarify things you weren’t that aware of before.
2. Better Organizing
Scientists have linked handwriting with spatial awareness, which helps you arrange text in a meaningful manner. You have to put some degree of cognitive processing to assess and manage the information you are receiving. You distance yourself from the disorganized and seemingly random content in your head and organize it elsewhere.
3. Memorizing
Studies have shown that students who took notes were more likely to remember important bits of information. This is due to the organizing effect of writing. However, writing can improve memory just by stimulating the encoding process which is the final stage of the memorizing process present in deeper learning.
4. Intelligence Development
Pattern recognition is also related to the former two and thus helps holistic learning.
This means that you learn things by connecting different ideas and constructing more abstract concepts. Pattern recognition helps to link together ideas that were not obviously correlated, which requires the ability to recognize the patterns so you can see the underlying concepts at a much deeper level. This was a skill that brought to the evolution of intelligence.
5. Focus and Meditation
Writing can actually calm you down. Your thoughts are more collected and focused on creating orderly information, which in turn results in less stress and anxiety otherwise induced by scattered thoughts. Especially when writing on paper, there are no distractions from other stimuli online. It is the time for just you and your thoughts.
6. Expression
Of course, you would try and retrieve forgotten words – or even make them up – to better formulate your thoughts. This will refine your thoughts, make them more clear, and you more eloquent. But doing this frequently and exercising this skill will train your brain to become more language-oriented and see things differently by visualizing with other than your occipital lobe.
7. Venting
Writing a journal will greatly help you vent because, as it was already explained, it can help you recollect your thoughts and have you take a one-on-one therapy session. But even writing fiction can help. Some literary critics have argued that writers sublimate their neurosis through their work, rendering it fictionally acceptable. This goes for the emotions you do not let yourself express directly as well, such as anger or jealousy for example.
8. Self-Confidence
With all these new skills, you are sure to gain self-confidence, although you might not recognize it. But having more collected thoughts and the skill to express them will make you more easily understood – which is important for your self-esteem. Even more, it will not just make people more accepting of you, but also more attracted to you.
9. Career Skills
All of the above-mentioned points are excellent assets of a professional. Good writing skill and functional literacy are needed in almost every job, but you also want to be more productive, focused, calm, apprehensive, eloquent, organized, and confident. If all of this can be boosted through writing, then you should definitely consider it an essential exercise for your professional life.
10. Profitability
In the end, you can make money off of it. There are tons of content uploaded to the web every day. Even though hardcover books might be dying out, the need for the written word is increasing. You can engage in jobs such as content writing, copywriting, guest posting, and so on. And of course, you can always publish the work you’ve been keeping private, especially now that it’s easier than ever to Find a Publisher.
Just as you would go to the gym, think of this as an essential routine. It will be hard at first but just like any exercise, it soon becomes easy, and then irreplaceable.
